Ripley Coach Facing the Match of Her Life

RIPLEY, Mississippi—Last October when Laura Booth moved from Louisville, Kentucky, to north Mississippi, she could never have imagined what would unfold.

After a 25-year teaching career in Kentucky, Booth relocated to Saltillo when her husband took a new job. Not long after settling in, she made an appointment for her annual mammogram at North Mississippi Medical Center’s Breast Care Center. Because her grandmother had battled breast cancer, Booth says since turning 40 eight years ago, she has been “pretty adamant” about getting screened.

In March, she accepted a job as the librarian and head volleyball coach at Ripley High School. The following day, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Booth called her new employer to let them know about her diagnosis and tell them she would understand if they wanted to rescind their offer. Instead, they were 100% supportive.

As a new resident, she knew little about local medical resources. “I’m from a big city, so I wondered if small town America would be able to give me the care I’d like to receive,” she says. Like any good coach, Booth formulated a game plan. She met with Dr. Danny Sanders of North Mississippi Medical Center’s Breast and General Surgery Clinic and Dr. Usman Khan of NMMC Cancer Care.

She also had genetic testing done to see if her 26-year-old daughter would also be at high risk for breast cancer; thankfully, she is not.

“The type of breast cancer I have feeds on estrogen, so because I hadn’t gone through menopause yet, I took shots and medication for several months to shut down my ovaries,” Booth says. “When I went back for another breast MRI, the tumors had shrunk by 80% because of the hormone blockers. I was thrilled with those results because I really wanted to save my breasts if at all possible.”

The first few weeks of this school year were a whirlwind. She started teaching and coaching at her new school July 28.

On Aug. 8, Dr. Sanders performed a lumpectomy, surgery to remove cancer from her left breast. While she was in the operating suite, plastic and reconstructive surgeon Dr. Robert Buckley did a breast reduction and lift procedure to restore symmetry to her breasts. “I was so happy that I could get it all done at the same time,” Booth says.

Four days later, she showed up for volleyball practice. “I wanted to be there for the girls,” she says. “I wanted to show them that when you commit to something, if God allows, you do it. I’ve always thought that life lessons are more valuable than anything I can teach them about volleyball.”

Booth was on the sidelines for their first volleyball match less than a week after surgery, and she has been there ever since—despite undergoing 25 radiation treatments. “I think coaching has helped me, honestly,” she says, “because I’m so focused on the girls, I don’t have much time to think about my situation.”

Booth has been impressed both by the care she has received and the support from her team, school and new community. Despite her recent challenges, she realizes things could have been much worse. “I was never able to feel the lump in my breast, so I wouldn’t have caught it,” she says. “It was small and slow-growing, so who knows how long it would have been before we found it. Getting a mammogram definitely saved me.”

This experience has reminded Booth that her responsibility to her students stretches far beyond the classroom or volleyball court. “One of my former students called me the day I finally posted on Facebook about my breast cancer journey,” she says. “She told me she was scheduled to have her first mammogram that week but she was going to call and cancel it...  until she read my post. She decided to keep the appointment.”